The Nikon D7000[2] is a 16.2-megapixeldigital single-lens reflex camera (DSLR) model announced by Nikon on September 15, 2010. At the time of announcement, it was a new class of camera placed between the professional D300S and the midrange D90.[3][4][5][6] The D7000 offers numerous professional-style features over the D90, such as magnesium alloy body construction, weather and moisture sealing, a 2,016-segment color exposure meter, built-in timed interval exposure features, 39 rather than 11 focus points, dual SD memory card slots, virtual horizon (in live view and viewfinder) and compatibility with older non-CPU autofocus and manual-focus AI and AI-S Nikon F-mount lenses (including an electronic rangefinder with three-segment viewfinder manual focus indication) as well as tilt-shiftPC-E lenses. Other built-in features are a wireless flash commander, two user-customizable modes, full HD video with autofocus and mono audio (With support for an external stereo microphone), automatic correction of lateral chromatic aberration and support for GPS and WLAN.

Automatic correction of lateral chromatic aberration for JPEGs. Correction-data is additionally stored in RAW-files and can be used by Nikon Capture NX, View NX and some other RAW tools.

Enhanced built-in RAW processing with extended Retouch menu for image processing without using a computer.

Active D-Lighting and Active D-Lighting bracketing; also D-Lighting which can be applied to a JPEG using an Image Editing feature in Playback mode; Nikon Capture NX and View software include tools for applying D-Lighting to NEF format photos.

Two user-customisable modes

Many WB options including WB Bracketing and two auto white balance modes, one of which maintaining warm lighting colours

Since its release, the D7000 has received many favorable reviews, with some commenting that the D7000 is a viable alternative to the more expensive D300S and an upgrade over the D90.[43][44][45]Digital Photography Review awarded the camera an overall score of 80%, praising its feature set and image quality.[45] The D7000 received four out of five stars and the Editor's choice award in CNET's review.[46]

DxO Labs awarded its sensor an overall score of 80,[47] above much more expensive competitors.[48][49] The main point of criticism by reviewers is the small buffer which limits the number of shots in burst mode especially when shooting RAW.

The 3D Color Matrix Metering II tends to overexpose minor parts of the image (e.g. sky or bright back-lights) if it detects faces near the image center that are darker (e.g. in shadow) than these minor parts.[52] This feature is sometimes surprising due to reliable scene recognition and face detection (including side-view of faces) of the new high-resolution sensor, even if there are only strangers (in the dark) near the image center.[53]

If not wanted, the metering can be changed with exposure compensation, two-point (average) metering, metering on the bright lights or use of center-weighted or spot metering, fill flash or RAW images.[54][55] Increasing the dynamic range by use of Active D-Lighting or reducing the contrast settings (the default contrast is higher compared to previous Nikon DSLRs) aids when shooting JPEGs. After taking the image, contrast and brightness can easily be changed in camera.

The D7000 was very much anticipated by Nikon consumers. The hype around its release made it very hard to find during the first months on the market.[56][57] Supplies of this camera were also limited after the destruction of some Nikon manufacturing facilities in Thailand by the flooding in October 2011.[58] Many users have complained about back-focus problems on the D7000, as well as dust and oil spots on early production models

Several hacks have been published by Simon Pilgrim on Nikon Hacker internet forum and Vitaliy Kiselev on his personal website. Nikon Hacker has several people working on the hacks. The published hacks, among few others, include removing the time limit for video recording, clean HDMI and LCD on LiveView, disabling automatic hot-pixel removal (also known as Nikon Star Eater) and higher data rate for video recording. Several other hacks are under development but not yet published.

June 2013 Simon Pilgrim was able to enable RAW video recording but the frame rate (roughly 1.5 frames per second) is not high enough to be useful. The hack is not yet published.[59][60]